


Ulric

by ertrunkener_Wassergeist



Series: Born Into the Wilds [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Child Nyx Ulric, Coeurls, Galahd, Galahdian Culture (Final Fantasy XV), Galahdian Religion, Gen, Hunting, Nyx' lack of self preservation, The First Hunt, Ulric Clan, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-25 21:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18582700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ertrunkener_Wassergeist/pseuds/ertrunkener_Wassergeist
Summary: Nyx was all of nine years old when he came to the conclusion that he had to prove that he was just as good a hunter as his father had been.





	Ulric

Nyx was all of nine years old when he came to the conclusion that he had to prove that he was just as good a hunter as his father had been. He refused to be a Nameless One because he failed to hunt in the way of the Utris, his mother’s family. Selena would manage, he had no doubt.

He checked again if the Ulric’s hunting knifes still rested in their sheaths as he crept through the shadows of the thick foliage above him. For the fraction of a second his heart beat a little easier as he touched their hilts, then the nervousness was back full force. The paint on his naked skin was starting to dry and itched a little. Maybe he had done something wrong when he had made it. No matter. At last the colour was right. He had done what he could with only vague stories to guide him and an old picture of his father as he came back from his own First Hunt as a child.

This would have to be his First Hunt, all by himself, because there was no Ulric left to show him. And he would show them all. None of his people would have to mourn the passing of the Ulric name anymore because he would earn it all by himself.

The morning was still young and the jungle still dark but everywhere the young boy could hear the sounds of life. Not for the first time today he prayed to his Ulric ancestors that they may guide his steps and, when he had found a suitable prey, his hand.

His prey had to be something a coeurl hunted. No easy feat for a nine year old with no living family member at his side to guide him. The dead ones would have to do.

Nyx followed the little stream uphill where he and Libertus used to play at all the time before their parents allowed them down to the lake. He hoped he’d find some kind of trail here. Every animal needed to drink, right? The stream came from a stony spring at the top of the hill. From everywhere around him bushes and trees were closing in but no sign of any kind of animal that counted as a coeurl’s prey. Instead he found lizards, snakes and many other small animals with ease.

A juvenile Naga’s kin hissed at him when he came too near to its nest and Nyx hastily backed off. Those things were highly poisonous. One bite would slowly and painfully turn you to stone if one was not careful around them.

It was nearing midday when he finally found something promising. Hare tracks. Fresh ones at that. He’d hoped that he would find near anything else but nonetheless he sent a prayer of thanks to his ancestors and the Fathers of the Hunt. No need to be disrespectful after all. Considering the size of the tracks it had to be a fully grown one. Adult hares on Galahd could easily get the size of a five year old child.

It would be difficult, he knew, but he would manage it. He had to. The threat of a Nameless existence loomed over him like a dangerous storm cloud and made him give chase despite the serious danger he would put himself in, if he attempted to kill a hare of all thing with just a pair of hunting knifes.

Nyx trotted through the jungle, weight on the balls of his naked feet.

 _You are a coeurl on the hunt_ , he chanted in his head like a mantra.

_You are a coeurl on the hunt and nothing is more dangerous than you._

He was getting closer. He could feel it. The energy of the jungle around him changed and suddenly Nyx realized that it had grown strangely quiet. There was no rustle in the leaves, no hissing, no chirping, no flapping of wings, no nothing. The fine hairs on his arms and his neck stood on end. Something was going on.

Slowly he crept between the trees and out into a meadow. Flowers in sunny yellow, sky blue, royal purple and soft pink bobbed peacefully in the wind. It would have been calming if not for the charged atmosphere. He turned around to follow the tracks once more and froze.

There was the hare and it was nearly as tall as him. It was dead. The neck had clearly been broken by something with sharp teeth and that something rested next to it and looked at him with watchful eyes.

A coeurl.

The hugest coeurl he’d ever seen and he had seen pictures of the great Galahdian coeurls.

This one was easily twice that size with eyes green like the jungle, white fur and light blue spots as if they were nothing more than shadows in the snow. The same spots he had painted on his arms and throat. It even had the same facial markings as he had painted on his face so painstakingly this morning (late at night?) without a mirror.

Large whiskers flicked casually and a deep rumble rattled Nyx to his bones. He should go. He should go now but he knew with a sudden absolute certainty that, if he broke the eye contact, he would die. So he staid rooted where he stood and didn’t move a muscle. He barely dared to breathe.

The coeurl watched him for what seemed like an eternity before it released him from its piecing gaze and Nyx did the stupidest thing he had done in his life up until then. Slowly, ever so slowly he inched towards the large animal that had started to groom itself and held out his hand.

He just… _had_ to do this even if every fibre of his being screamed at him not to do it. Warm air ghosted over his hand and suddenly he was touching the softest fur he had ever felt. Nyx’ eyes widened in amazement and a childish joy bloomed in his chest.

A spark sped up his arm like a light electric shock and made something within him settle. He had no idea what it was but it was wild and free and made him grin until his cheeks hurt and his teeth were bare. It – _she_ gave a rumbling purr.

She had hunted that hare for him because an Ulric would be needed in the future. It was her present for him for his courage and a boon for all the hardships he would have to endure when the time came for the next great hunt.

Then the magic was over and she stretched languidly before standing up. Nyx backed off so fast he lost his balance and landed on his butt. An amused rumble sounded as if to say _silly cub_ and then she was gone and he was alone in the clearing with a dead hare surrounded by the sweet smell of wild flowers.

It took him until evening to drag the hare back to his village. The sky burned a fiery orange as he crossed the border and the first people saw him. When he reached the town’s central square to present his prey the whole village was there and watched in stunned silence as a nine year old boy, wearing the paint of an Ulric’s First Hunt and a snarling grin, dragged a hare behind him that looked like a coeurl had shaken it until its neck had broken.

Nyx earned many things that day. The ire, worry and pride of his mother and sister, the blessings of the Great Coeurl, the name of Ulric and his first braid among the most important.

**Author's Note:**

> Haha, so Galahd sprang a whole culture and religion on me. Uups?  
> And yes, religion. No, I'm not crazy.  
> It's one of my headcanons why Galahdians are discriminated against. They don't worship The Six as Gods but have their own.  
> Also on the name thing:  
> In this 'verse a family name is earned by the child when it accomplishes the First Hunt in the tradition of either mother or father. If you don't manage it before you're twelve you get branded as a Nameless One which is a great shame. If you do manage, you don't only get to carry the family name but are also considered a fully fledged member of society. When people marry they keep their individual family names.   
> Hope you liked it!


End file.
